View full sizeJody Somers/For The Star-LedgerNew Rutgers president Robert Barchi speaks in his office in the Old Queens building on the College Avenue Campus in New Brunswick on Friday.

PISCATAWAY — Nearly 6,000 new Rutgers University students gathered in the campus football stadium today for a welcoming ceremony led by another new guy — their president.

Robert Barchi, the state university’s 20th president, spent his first day on the job leading the New Student Convocation ceremony at HighPoint Solutions Stadium in Piscataway. He commiserated with the freshmen still learning their way around the sprawling campus.

"I just got here too," said Barchi, 65. "So, I really do understand how tough life can be when you can’t find the Starbucks in the morning. But don’t worry. Within a week, you will know just where to snag that first vente double skinny without hitting a long line in the process."

"And you’ll be well on your way to making Rutgers your hometown," he added. "Just don’t get between me and my latte in the morning."

Barchi, dressed in his ceremonial scarlet and black robes for the first time, was given a standing ovations by the thousands of freshmen lining the stadium’s stands.

New Rutgers president begins tenure by welcoming new studentsNearly 6,000 new Rutgers University students gathered in the campus football stadium today for a welcoming ceremony led by another new guy — their president. Robert Barchi, the state university’s 20th president, spent his first day on the job leading the New Student Convocation ceremony at HighPoint Solutions Stadium in Piscataway. (Video by Michael Monday/The Star-Ledger)

The new president’s arrival coincides with the admission of Rutgers’ Class of 2016, considered an anniversary class because they are scheduled to graduate during the university’s 250th anniversary year.

"What a party that’s going to be," Barchi said. "Trust me, you will hear a lot more about ‘Rutgers 250’ in the next four years."

Barchi was selected in April after a nationwide search to replace outgoing president Richard McCormick, who stepped down to return to the Rutgers faculty as a history and education professor. The new president is a physician and the former head of Thomas Jefferson University, a health sciences school in Philadelphia.

Barchi takes over the $650,000-a-year president’s job at Rutgers at a critical time for the state university. Rutgers will absorb most of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey next summer under complex higher education reorganization legislation recently signed by Gov. Chris Christie.

The university hired a team of consultants to help campus officials work out the details of the massive merger, which includes Rutgers taking over two of UMDNJ’s medical schools, a dental school and other health science schools. It is still unclear how much the reorganization will cost or how it will be financed.

Though convocation was Barchi’s official first event as president, Tuesday is scheduled to be his first regular day on the job. He is slated to meet with the media for an afternoon press conference in his new office in Old Queens, the campus administration building in New Brunswick.

Barchi is also expected to attend welcome events on the Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-Camden campuses in the next few weeks.